South Meck beats Butler, wins season title

By Herb White
Correspondent

Posted: Wednesday, Feb. 08, 2012

South Mecklenburg High closed senior night with a championship celebration.

The Sabres earned the Southwestern 4A regular season title Tuesday with a 65-59 win against Butler, clinching the program's first championship of any kind since 2003. South Meck (19-4, 11-2) played with authority to build an 18-point lead in the first half, then held off Butler's charge in the second.

"It feel great," Sabres coach John Fitch said. "It's been too long. I'm really happy for the kids. They've worked very hard. The game got ugly at the end, but we'll take the win."

South Meck guard Carrington Kirkpatrick, who led all scorers with 22 points, split the output evenly with 11 in each half. His eight in the scored quarter propelled the Sabres to a 33-17 advantage and his seven in the fourth kept the Sabres in front as Butler (12-10, 9-4) rallied late.

"I preach not to be selfish, but this is one (time) I wanted them to be selfish," Fitch said. "I didn't want to be co-champion with anybody. I'm just real proud of the kids. Butler is a real strong team and very aggressive and they got themselves back in the game."

Zach Ferguson led Butler with 17 points, 15 in the final quarter, and Jeremy Page added 15 for the Bulldogs, who outscored South 28-21 in the fourth by turning up the defensive intensity and nailing four three-point shots.

"The one thing about this group is they're mentally tough," Butler coach Donald Kirby said. They've got a tremendous resolve and we knew if we stuck to our defensive principles eventually they would crack."

The Sabres took advantage of their front line size, with 6-foot-9 center Malcolm Matthews pumping in 14 points and blocking 11 shots to go with 6-foot-5 forward David Moore's 15 points, including nine in the first quarter, which South led 18-5. South also made liberal use of drives to the basket, which resulted in 24-of-34 from the free throw line.